[PDF] Hypogeum ?al Saflieni 10 thg 5 2018 mainly

View - Download Hypogeum ?al Saflieni

Previous PDF

Next PDF

1

Hypogeum

?ƒŽ 3ƒˆŽ‹‡‹

Island of Malta

HISTORICAL NOTES

GEOBIOLOGICAL SURVEYS and PERCEPTIONS

edited by Rudi Toffetti D.E.N.R.T.K.D.V.V. F.D.B.F.D.F. L.G.A.D.R.S.P.T.T.T. ruditoffetti.it 2 3

Introduction

I have been wishing for a long time to go to Malta to visit the megalithic temples and especially the Hypogeum .al Saflieni. In my imagination it had conquered a mythical and magical connotation. A necessity that became urgent, especially after having studied another similar site in Italy (the hypogeum of Cividale del Friuli in Italy), of which I made a similar report of the one that I present here. Unfortunately, the information about it, especially in Italian language, has immediately proved to be scanty and insufficient. So I collected all the material which was available, mainly in English, and I wrote this short work to which I added my own energy measurements and reflections. Since in the archaeological site it is forbidden to take pictures1, all the images of the Hypogeum that I have used have been taken from the web, except for some external ones that I personally photographed. Over the past 10-15 years, the islands of the state of Malta have entered the mass tourism market in a leading way. Observing from the satellite what once was called by the Romans "the sweet island" (Melita), you now discover a vast cemented urban agglomeration that occupies a considerable part of the territory. You also see that there are many construction sites which were opened for the creation of new hotels, resorts and hospitality-related infrastructures. Direct flights from many European capital cities bring tourists yearning for sea and relaxation throughout the year. Some of them also look for ancient culture and history of which these splendid islands are rich. Many problems arise from this inevitable race to profit, which is also a source of new well- being for the local population, even if the distortion of sociality and pollution, to name a few problems, which are the same that have afflicted other similar places, has now to be faced. A further important risk which

1 ... for those protected by copyright I apologize in advance with the authors or the rights holders,

appealing to their goodness, I was not really possible to do otherwise. 4 is related to mass tourism market, is to loss of what I call "the spirit of the ancient tradition" that risks to be considered only as a purely historical context, and let it almost being buried by the frenzy of the few available days of vacation. And it is to this "spirit" that you have to address, if you want to bring home a piece of soul that had been lost during the long journey in Time. In fact, what I have visited, rather than a physical place, is an important part of our soul, which is directly connected with the sacred feminine, with that ancestral Mother, which today is increasingly rediscovered and invoked as a source of peace. I hope that this great legacy of the ancient people, now disappeared for millennia, who dug the Hypogeum and built the megalithic temples, is going to be safeguarded and honored as a tradition of the Ancestors and Ancestors and as the true loving heart of Malta. The emotions related to such a legacy cannot be replaced by high star hotels or luxury restaurants. I sincerely thank Devana for the beautiful and well-kept preface to the part on geobiology and my sweet companion Irene for showing me how sacred the Woman is and for having once again supported and endured ...

Rudi Toffetti

10 May 2018

Votiǀe statuettes found in the hypogeum of yagŜra (about 4,100 - 2,000 BC). 5 In 1902, during the works for the construction of new living spaces and cisterns for the collection of rainwater, the ceiling of what was later to be revealed as the oldest hypogeal temple of humanity was unintentionally brought to light. At first it has been attempted to conceal the fact, but such a discovery could not remain hidden for long ... The Ial-Saflieni Hypogeum is located in the Pawla area, which is in the south-eastern part of Malta. 1980 it was declared by UNESCO as a "World Heritage Site of Outstanding Universal Value", as well as the megalithic temples on the island of Malta and Gozo. The three islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino together cover a surface of

315.6 km².In the red circle the Maltese Hypogeum and the nearby

megalithic temples of Tarxien. 6 At the beginning the study of the archaeological complex was entrusted by the Jesuit Father Magri, who directed the excavations on behalf of the Museums Committee which begun in year 1903. Unfortunately during the works a large part of the contents of the Hypogeum, including funeral objects and human remains, were discarded without being properly cataloged. Furthermore, Father Magri died suddenly in 1907, and all the information he had gathered on the field was irretrievably lost. However, the subsequent excavations between 1907 and 1911, led by Themistocles Zammit, were well documented and highlighted the great importance of this unique site in the world, that gave the name to the "Saflieni" phase of the prehistory of Malta, which goes from 3,000 to 2,500 BC.

Satellite view on the Ipogeo complex

NORTH-SOUTH orientation.

7 The site was opened for the first time to visitors in 1908 while the excavations were still in progress, and since then it has been visited by tens thousands of people. Unfortunately, this has had a negative impact on the delicate microclimate of the site on its preservation, especially for the red ocher wall paintings. For this reason, after a 10 years safeguard project, between 1990 and

2000, during which the site was closed, a new environmental control

system has been set up. It keeps temperature and humidity at optimal levels and only 10 visitors per hour are allowed for a maximum of 8 hours per day. The first planimetric survey of the Ipogeo traced by Padre Magri. 8 The Hypogeum of .al-Saflieni is a complex estimated in about 500 square meters. consisting of interconnected chambers excavated in globigerine (a variety of soft calcareous rock) and disposed on three distinct levels. Based on the analysis of the ceramic samples and the examination of human remains found, the oldest parts of the site date back to about

4,000 BC., and it is thought that the complex was used for many

centuries, up to 2500 BC. One of the most unique features is the way in which its architectural elements tend to imitate the compositions of the megalithic temples on mastery of the stonemasons reproduced in the bowels of the earth columns, triliths, lintels, pillars, false doors, vaulted roofs and apses. Even the ceilings of some rooms have overhanging carved stone frames that tend to imitate the cantilevered walls.

The modern structure

that houses the ticket office and the multimedia center of the Ipogeo. 9

View on the central chamber of the Hypogeum

Cistern for the collection of water obtained in the upper perimeter of the Ipogeo in modern times. 10 It is surprising how these cavities were entirely excavated using rudimentary tools like flint, obsidian and animal horns. Moreover, despite the engineering difficulties of their underground project, the ancient inhabitants of Malta seem to have managed to plan practical elements, such as strategic openings along the upper level for a careful direction of natural light in the intermediate rooms below.

Excavation techniques:

in the image we can see, next to the trilite, the succession of holes in the rock that preceded the separation of parts of it. 11 A wide range of objects have been recovered from the site, including finely decorated ceramic vases, stone and clay beads, shell buttons, amulets, ax heads and carved figures depicting humans and animals. The figures range from abstract to realistic style, with main themes that are thought to be linked to the cult of death and spiritual transformation. Composed artistic techniques are also represented, as in the case of a single large ceramic bowl that uses both naturalistic and stylized themes, with a side that realistically represents cattle, pigs and goats and the other side that represents hatched animals hidden inside complex geometric patterns. The most famous finding is certainly that of the iconic figure called "The Sleeping Lady". It is a terracotta artefact representing a sleeping mother goddess on a sort of sofa: the subject has the classic abundant features found in the large number of statues of every size found in the excavations of the Maltese temples, whose dates cover an arc of almost twenty centuries. These findings support what is now no longer just a hypothesis, but a fact, i.e., that the cult of the Mother (cosmic, ancestral, earthly, ancestor, etc.) was central and fundamental for those populations, as well as it was, over several millennia, for different cultures of their contemporary Mediterranean. From this point of view we must therefore try to understand the peculiarities and the functionality of the ancient Maltese cult sites. In particular, how the undoubtedly matriarchal2 social structure has influenced, unequaled and not devoted to belligerent activities, as well as postulated in the work of the researcher Marija Gimbutas.

2 ... There are still more than a hundred matriarchal societies in the world (the Minankabau of

Indonesia is one of the most numerous, with three million people, followed by the company Moso in China

and the Yuchiteca in Mexico), peaceful and egalitarian organizations based on the partnership and not on

the "domination of the mothers", which continue to keep alive a different model of civilization for women

and men. The centrality of women, matrilinearity and matrilocality, "economic mutuality", decision-making

processes based on consensus, the sacredness of the earth, the divine feminine are some of the guidelines

that characterize these societies we meet from Asia to the Americas Africa ... "source:" Matriarchy of the

world: other dimensions of the present "- terranuova.it 12 "The Sleeping Lady" now on display at the National Museum of

Archeology in Valletta.

"The Sleeping Lady" seen from above, you can see the hair and clothing consisting of a wide skirt decorated and fringed to the calves. 13 Reconstruction of the hypogeum of yagŜra or Megalithic circle of Brochtorff (island of Gozo) with some artifacts found on the site.

First phase: about 4.100-3.800 b.C.

Second phase: about 3,000-2,400 b.C.

Abandoned: after 2,000 b.C.

14 If we make an imaginative effort, we can see and feel the temple as a real "Mother's Body". If you compare the votive representations with those of the profiles of the Maltese megalithic temples, it is undoubtedly simple to recognize it even from the stylistic point of view, Planimetry of *gantija Temples and statuette found at Hagar Yim Temples.

MALTESE TEMPLE TYPES

15 Statuette with a couple of Mother goddesses sitting on the typical "sofa», coming from the excavations of the hypogeum of yagŜra or Megalithic circle of Brochtorff (island of Gozo). Also this artefact was found inside the Hypogeum and proposes again the image of the Sleeping Lady-Mother Goddess in style, workmanship and shapes. In this case the clay figurine is devoid of the head, and the particular position that it assumes extended on the belly reminds us more a prayerful and meditative state, rather than a deep sleep. 16 It is hypothesized that subsequently, around 2500 BC, and in conjunction with the disappearance of the people who had given life to the Maltese temples, the Hypogeum became a necropolis. In fact, the massed remains of over 7,000 individuals have been found. According to the chronicles of the time, when the authorities of the museum took control of the site, practically all the rooms were filled up to the ceilings with a reddish earth mass, which proved to contain the remains of thousands of human skeletons. The bones laid mostly in disorder, in a layer so thick that in the space of about 4 cubic meters laid the remains of no less than 120 individuals. "... The bodies themselves were so damaged by the humidity that only ten skulls could be saved whole ...". We consequently interfere that, given the proximity with which they were piled together, the bones were placed on the site when they were already free of meat. Moreover, the skeletons were stacked in the rooms between volumes of red ocher, a way that implies a practice linked to the rites of passage between life and death. A skeleton, however, was found intact, lying on the right side in a crouched position, that is, with arms and knees bent upward. Facial reconstruction of a Neolithic young Neolithic woman based on a three- dimensional scan, whose skull was found in the hypogeum of yagŜra. 17 Positioning (approximate) of the Hypogeum according to the NORTH-SOUTH planimetric guidelines given. Overview of the three levels of the Hypogeum (superimposed). 18 The cultual complex is on three superimposed levels. For archaeologists this succession of environments proofs the search for further spaces by the ancients. They would continue to dig without a real "esoteric" idea, but maybe there's more ... 19 The FIRST UPPER LEVEL (0-3mt.) is the oldest and has been placed at the altitude of the land. It was built in what was once the top of a natural hill, today overlooking the Grand Harbor. There is very little evidence of the size or nature of this structure that led to the entrance of the second underground level. Large slabs of stone, used as standing columns, were discovered on the site, together with pottery, beads, stone pendants and human bones. The chronicles (Agius) state that the original entrance consisted of a large central square opening, a sort of porthole slab, which was subsequently shattered and dismantled to make way for new housing constructionsquotesdbs_dbs29.pdfusesText_35

[PDF] English Worksheets for ESL/ESOL/EFL Teachers and Students

[PDF] English for Writing Research Papers Useful Phrases - Springer

[PDF] Dossier de Toxicologie Les dangers qui guettent votre chien - Free

[PDF] L 'engrais de démarrage dans la production de maïs

[PDF] Fertilisation starter du maïs - Perspectives Agricoles

[PDF] ENIC-NARIC France - CIEP

[PDF] enic-naric - CIEP

[PDF] Enigmes solutions

[PDF] 50 Énigmes et casse têtes - Vendredi rando

[PDF] 100 énigmes pour réussir en maths - AFEP

[PDF] Enigme géométrique : carré et triangle - Collège Roger Carcassonne

[PDF] Jeux et énigmes logiques

[PDF] Une énigme par jour : Niveau 6ème et 5ème Énigme 1 : Énigme 2

[PDF] 100 énigmes pour réussir en maths - AFEP

[PDF] 199 défis (mathématiques) ? manipuler !